Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

Booking combines crowing inder war and decree ■ BILL FORMBY i RCHING through the Consent Decree years, which are war-rich years too, rises the inition of the buying and booking combine of the independent theatres, more extensive and ortant today than ever in its long history. low a total of at least 1,263 theatres in *the United States are served by combines. When upturn started four years ago there were, and long had been, about ten such services. h there are twenty-eight. he development is to be taken as one of the consequences of the added labor and :ntion required of the exhibitor in buying product under the Consent Decree provisions — ting product offerings to blocks and requiring screening before sale. That ended those ual deals for the season, program buying. nevitably, as has been amply recorded, this entailed a lot of looking at pictures and many, ny more buying deals — to say nothing of the complications of travels to trade shows and ding appointments. It would appear that there proved to be so much work that the exitor has tended more and more to delegate it to the service organization, the buying and jking combines. "his condition has arisen in a period of ascending boxoffice grosses calculated to find the ibitor in a state of willingness to add service fees to his costs. In nearly all cases the aking combines operate on a free basis in which they sell their "know how", their "know I" in the acquisition of product. The process closely resembles the operation of film disDution, being in fact the other side of the medal. 'jj3ooking combines date from the early experience of the theatre and a number of today's loosing circuits, including affiliated organizations, had their origin in buying alliances and jvices. But never before have they represented so many independent screens. •ollowing, insofar as current information perks, is a list of the active booking and buying libines in the United States, arranged alphabetiWiy according to exchange centers : ,BANY p'pstate Theatres, Inc. — ChaTles F. Wilson; II theatres. LANTA |£. T. Brown Booking Agency — Eight thea Vjston Affiliated Theatres Corporation — Arbc K. Howard, 27 theatres. Allied Management Company — Sol Ed,irds, 59 theatres. E. Young — 15 small theatres, two of which I, closed in the Winter months. He has a nimum fee of $7.50 for booking only. Apoximately twice that amount is charged for E combined service of booking and buying. E. Higgins — 15 small independent accounts, which four are for Summer only, for which books and buys. Also has six additional •uses for which he does booking, but not buyg. His fees are approximately the same as ose charged by Mr. Young. HARLOTTE Exhibitors Service — H. D. Hearn, 32 inpendent theatres, 17 Marine Corps installa>ns and six Navy theatres. Masterman Booking Service — R. H. Masrman, three theatres. Saunders Booking Service — Bob Saundis, seven theatres. Mr. Saunders also buys ;r two other houses, doing the booking only r the seven units. Chicago Allied Theatres of Illinois, Inc. — Jack irsch, 59 theatres. Mr. Kirsch is president the Allied of Illinois Allied organization. ;Cost of the theatres are in Chicago. The :hers, eight in number, are located in suburbs. Greiver Theatres Booking Service — Si Greiver, 33 theatres. Of the total, 22 are located in Chicago, the others in nearby small towns. L. Reinheimer Theatres — Louis Reinheimer, 10 theatres, eight of which are in Chicago. The other two are in Elmhurst, 111., and in Hammond, Ind. CLEVELAND Cooperative Theatres of Ohio — M. A. Mooney, president and buyer ; H. E. McManus, assistant president and buyer. Books and buys for 64 theatres, located in the state of Ohio. DALLAS Index Booking Sebvice — Forest White, owner and manager, 16 theatres located in the state of Texas. DES MOINES Garbett Circuit — E. M. Garbett, general manager, 11 theatres. Mr. Garbett's circuit owns seven of the houses, doing the booking and buying for the remainder. The fee is reported to be $10 weekly in each of the towns. DETROIT Cooperative Theatres of Michigan, Inc. — Fred DeLodder, president ; Wade Allen, vice-president; Harold Munz, secretary-treasurer; S. H. Barrett, general manager, and James J. Sharkey, film buyer. Having a membership of 106 theatres in the state of Michigan, this is the largest and oldest combine in the business. General Theatres Service, Inc. — Carl W. Buermele, president and general manager ; George Flucksa, vice-president; Gustav W. Funk, secretary; B. L. Kilbride, treasurer. With a membership of 21 theatres, this organization is headed by the former head of the Cooperative Theatres of Michigan. Mutual Theatres, Inc. — Allen L. Dowzer, president; Evelyn Phillipps, vice-president; Genevive Ward, secretary-treasurer. Has a membership of 38 theatres. Independent Exhibitors Theatre Service — Clive R. Waxman, owner, 26 theatres. INDIANAPOLIS Affiliated Theatres, Inc. — T. C. Baker, president; A. R. Blocker, vice-president; Earl Herndon, treasurer and assistant manager. Has a membership of 41 theatres in Indiana. Indianapolis Cooperative Circuit — Oscar Kuschner, buyer. Has a total of 10 theatres as members. KANSAS CITY Ed Hartman — Not precisely an organized booking and buying combine, but handling 10 theatres in Kansas City and other Missouri towns, doing the advertising for the suburban metropolitan houses. LOS ANGELES Exhibitors Service, Inc. — Harry L. Rackin, president. Owning only one of the 22 member theatres, Mr. Rackin has no financial interest in any of the others. He performs the booking and buying services for a fixed fee for each theatre individually. Roy B. Dickinson Booking Service — Having no financial interest in any of these theatres, Mr. Dickinson books and buys for a fixed fee. M. A. Bard, buyer for the Metro and Trojan theatres in Los Angeles when the owner of these houses withdrew from the Colorado Corporation, was deposed as an officer of the corporation on May 12, 1944, and was nominated a buyer for the two theatres individually. Southern California Amusement Co. — Harry Vinnicof, president. Comprised of the former Harry Vinnicof Theatres, James Edwards, Jr., Theatre Circuit, and Eastland Theatres, owned by Berman Brothers and Harry Popkin, the combination consists of 36 theatres. Ostensibly, Southern California Amusement Co. is the parent company of Vinnicof theatres. Edwards Theatres and Eastland Theatres as subsidiaries, however, each maintains separate offices and booking and accounting departments, although Mr. Vinnicof does the buying with some assistance from his partners. MEMPHIS Malco Theatres, Inc. — An organization headed by M. A. Lightman whereby he books and buys for 10 theatres in Tennessee under terms of purchase or contract agreements. MILWAUKEE Theatre Service Company — Harry Perlewitz, buyer and head of the circuit, is one of the owners of the Colonial Theatre in Milwaukee. He reportedly has no interest in the other 11 theatres for which he books and buys. NEW HAVEN Theatre Buying and Booking Office — Flora Cohn, books for three theatres. Allied Management Company — Sol Edwards, who books for two theatres in the city. NEW JERSEY Independent Theatre Service — Lee W. Newbury, president; Irving Dollinger, vicepresident; Harry H. Loewenstein, secretary; David Snaper, treasurer. With a membership (Continued on following page, column 2) OTION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 17, 1945